ISA Insights

March 2008

New ISA84 Certificate Program & ISA100 Training Program

In an effort to promote understanding and implementation of standards, ISA is developing a comprehensive series of training programs for the ISA84 and ISA100 standards. In the case of ISA84, several new certificate programs will be developed for ISA84 specialists. Both programs are being developed by ISA for the Automation Standards Compliance Institute, which is chartered to facilitate the understanding and implementation of automation standards.

ISA84

ISA84 experts met at ISA headquarters in RTP, 19-21 February, to begin development of a series of ISA84 Certificate Programs.

ISA84 covers applying Electrical/Electronic/Programmable Electronic Systems (E/E/PES) in process safety applications. The ISA84 committee works to define terminology that is peculiar to E/E/PES and high reliability, establish criteria for and means of assessing reliability and availability in practical applications, provide general specification guidelines that facilitate understanding, provide guidelines for process safety applications requiring high reliability, and develop guidelines for specific hardware/software configurations that can meet varying levels of reliability/availability.

The ISA84 certificate programs will consist of several days of specialized training followed by a proctored exam. Those who pass the exam will receive the certificate, which will be renewable every three years. The first ISA84 certificate program will focus on SIS generalist knowledge and skills, and will be followed by specialized certificate programs on SIL Determination and Hardware Design and Analysis. Look for the introduction of the SIS generalist certificate program this summer followed by the two specialists certificates this fall.

ISA100

The goal of the new training for ISA100 is to increase understanding and implementation of the ISA100 universal family of wireless standards. A series of courses will be developed to support ISA100 and the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute.

ISA will develop and revise five courses to cover ISA100 and wireless technology. Course offerings include a one-day ISA100 overview explaining wireless and ISA100; a one-day course that provides an applications overview of wireless technology including ISA100; a new two-day supplier-focused course that centers on ISA100 wireless technology and how to build ISA100 devices and systems; and a new one-day people and asset management (RFID) course geared towards engineers. These courses are scheduled to be available in the fall and offered at ISA EXPO 2008.

In addition to these courses, ISA is developing a new 2 day user-focused course on designing and implementing ISA100 devices and systems in industrial applications, with a target completion date in 2009. This course will cover technology, site planning, and ISA100 applications.

Keep an eye out for updates on the progress of the new training programs for these standards.